Equity in access to health care services in Italy.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To provide new evidence on whether and how patterns of health care utilization deviate from horizontal equity in a country with a universal and egalitarian public health care system: Italy.

Data sources

Secondary analysis of data from the Health Conditions and Health Care Utilization Survey 2005, conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics on a probability sample of the noninstitutionalized Italian population.

Study design

Using multilevel logistic regression, we investigated how the probability of utilizing five health care services varies among individuals with equal health status but different SES.

Data collection/extraction

Respondents aged 18 or older at the interview time (n = 103,651).

Principal findings

Overall, we found t

SUBMITTER: Glorioso V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4231580 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature